I.—: Numerical Importance.

It is obvious from the preceding table showing the relative importance of different industries that the manufacture of stuffs, linen goods, and articles of clothing forms 20·47 per cent., i.e., more than one-fifth of the total industry of France. Of this industry the raw materials are cloth, cotton yarn and textiles, linen, and silk; it will therefore suffer from the rebound of protective duties on textiles. The first group, comprising the manufacture of stuff, linen, and clothes, employs some 1,340,000: according to the census returns 140,000 cutters; 60,000 readymade clothes makers; 614,000 dressmakers; 75,000 makers of hats and head-dresses, including 45,000 milliners; 23,000 flower and feather makers. Paris is the centre for nearly all these industries, which have the highest standard of wages. Is this due to Protection? We shall see that they are victims of Protection.